As they do every January, Minke, ‘the printing press of the 22nd Century’, has produced a gift for their customers and suppliers to commemorate the turn of the year. Our studio has been entrusted with the design and conceptualisation of this year’s piece.

The combination of our creative work with their ideas of production has resulted in Alegato al tiempo libre (a plea for free time). It’s a case which serves as a toolbox and is a representation of time in our lives, in which leisure and pleasure constitute the essence of happiness. In its interior the following can be found:

A diary for 2019 and 2020, made up of weekends, bank holidays and festivities. By including only these days, we are enhancing the importance of the time we set aside for leisure and rest, days which we associate with fun and celebrations.

A collection of 8 envelopes with a small surprise inside, which can be shared, each one a graphical representation of a special day of the year.

This idea of sharing is what will make the ensemble hugely popular, and it is summed up perfectly by the slogan on the case: the essence of human relations is found in sharing.

Leisure is dead. We live in permanent state of hurry. It’s a lifestyle which has relegated free time to something of secondary importance; we give greater priority to other things.

Work needs to be reconsidered, our personal relationships re-imagined. We need to rediscover the worth of free time. Not only are leisure, art and philosophy an important part of the foundations of our civilisation, they also have an essential role in the way it changes.

In this idea we find the origins of Alegato al tiempo libre. Its purpose is to help us reclaim a time which is there, yet too often ignored. It’s not a time for carrying out our duties, but a time which is necessary for really living and sharing.

We want to encourage everybody (including ourselves) to take part in this initiative with the tools required to do so: a diary and a set of envelopes with a surprise inside each one.

A diary made up of weekends and bank holidays which enables us to organise our free time in a more traditional way and share it with the people in our lives.

The essence of human relationships is sharing. The additional items inside the case are a graphical representation of a special day of the year and at the same time they can be used as a gift, serving as a lasting reminder of the giver’s genuine show of affection.

Alegato al tiempo libre means believing in a different way of organising time in our lives.